She said: “My manager finally called and said: ‘You've got to go meet with the studio head because he will not approve you. He thinks you really are your character from Election and that you're repellent.'

“And then I was told to dress sexy."

Reese Witherspoon on stage during The Hollywood Reporter's Power 100 Women in Entertainment. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter)

Witherspoon said she “needed the money” at the age of 23 and with a baby at home.

As a result, she perservered through several auditions at which she was asked questions about being part of a sorority by “a room full of men”, despite the fact she had dropped out of college.

She added: “It's funny to think of all the things we were told to do back then because now you're thinking: 'Oh God, if somebody told my daughter to do that, she'd be like, I really hope you're joking.'“